I'll be your queen, if you let me
by Sunshine-M
Summary: This is a continuation to my previous piece, "You can sit beside me when the world comes down". Hayley and Elijah keep on coping with the fall out of the finale. Please Read and review! Reviews make my day/week/year/life!


A/N: This is a continuation of "You can sit beside me when the world comes down"

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the plot or the universe. I'm playing in somebody else's sandbox, please don't sue.

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Life changes, and she's adapting, though she dislikes this new reality. It's only partially true, she admits to herself, she does like having Elijah around, living in her small cabin with her. As the complete control freak he is, he decided to furnish it, without asking her if she was okay with it, but she doesn't mind. She's feeling alive again, feeling pain too, but alive... It's like a rediscovery. It's like being reborn, which is ironic given that she just gave birth, or so it feels.

His suits are next to her dresses in the closet he managed to bring in. He has a drawer in the cupboard. He lives with her, or maybe they're living together. Does it really make a difference? She doesn't know, doesn't care. She's not alone anymore, and neither is he.

They're so ... domestic. It would make her bleed if she didn't love it so much. Hope is on her mind all the time, every day, constantly, and he understands. He shares her pain and her fear, yet he is her rock when she needs one. Sometimes, he's the one breaking down, and he hates himself for it. He doesn't need to tell her, she knows him that well. He curses out his parents' names, he asks the sky why a little girl had to be the sacrifice in their family feud. He begs for a second more, for another hug, for Hope. He says he can still smell her scent, and she believes him, it's imbedded in her system too. Those few cuddles, so few, and spare... They had known something big was happening before they had to take that decision, but they hadn't imagine it would come to that. Now they're clinging to those few cuddles, letting those memories fuel them, as they wait for what's next.

Esther is back in town, Elijah told her the other day. She is now the queen of the witches, or the alpha bitch, as Hayley likes to call her. Elijah had smirked at that name, and she had felt...

That boy, or man, or vampire, or whatever he defines himself as, he makes her feel things. He makes her feel again. Together, they're learning, that much like the alcoholics, they have to take it one day at a time, and that they must wait, have strength, have faith. It's so difficult, but they have each other. When it becomes too much, and it often is too much, she lies on the bed, and he comes behind her. She's not sure who's holding who, who's comforting who, but they make it through that day, and the next.

He's so complex, yet she feels like she doesn't need a century by his side or an Elijah to average human translation book to understand what he feels. It's instinctive. They don't talk about it, but it's here. He will see a glimpse in her eyes, her hand shaking, or maybe just her eyelashes batting just a bit too fast, and he will be there. He will be standing, deep in thought, and suddenly there will be this change in him, something she can't describe, something that can't be seen, but she will come to him, and take his hand, and remind him that she's there, and she knows, and she loves him.

And then, there are those things he does, and she finds herself understanding the subtext, the implicit like it's written plainly. For example, he cooks.

That's right, Elijah freaking Mikaelson, Original Vampire, Charismatic Dandy, the would-be Prince of supernatural if they had royalty, has learnt to cook.

The first time he fixes her a plate with something he concocted, she briefly wonders if she's still asleep and it's a dream, but then it becomes clear.

Elijah learnt to cook when she was pregnant. She has an inkling he would have liked to feed her, or to cook for her when she was with child. After all, vampire shares some quirks with werewolves, like the need to take care of your mate's basic needs. However, she also knows, deep down in her bones, that he has learnt to cook for his niece. She would have wept when the realization hits her, but she holds it in, not because she is afraid he will get the wrong message about his gesture, but because she doesn't want to put him on the spot.

He had wanted and still wants to cook for Hope. He must have known when he had started learning that it would be some time before the baby was able to eat solids as her main diet, but he had learnt anyway. Patience is his forte after all.

He looks at her, and she can read the insecurity that nobody else will see. She digs in and moans when her taste buds have their first food orgasm in maybe ever. He smiles slightly, just so slightly, and she wants to call him out on his being smug, but she's too busy stuffing her face.

When she finishes her plate - and boy it's so clean you could almost put it back in the cupboard and use it for another meal - she is still reflecting on that new skill of his, and what it means.

He will not talk about it, not of his own volition, she knows that, so she takes the lead.

"When Hope was born, and after we had to part way, I found myself in lactation. It hurt like a bitch. I wanted to cut my boobs off and be done with this shit, with this new painful reminder that my baby was not with me anymore."

Weirdly, she doesn't feel exposed or naked by the things she's revealing to him, but she feels deeply embarrassed to have used the word "boobs" in front of him. He saw plenty of those before. Soon she hopes, he will see hers.

"It also made me think," she goes on, hoping he doesn't see the blush on her face because of that boob thing - damn it, she knows he saw it from the way he's smirking - "about what I would have done, if Hope was still with me. Breastfeeding and all that you know? I was a bit adverse to breastfeeding when I found out I was pregnant, because I had this image of a dairy cow, but the more I stayed preggers, the more it felt like something I would do. Let's call it the she-wolf in me talking, wanting to feed her cub. However, I gave it more thought, and I came to a conclusion: my daughter would have been fed half by boobs" - why does she keep using that word? - and half by bottle. It would have been my milk probably in the bottle, but still, this was my plan."

She knows he knows her better than she knows herself, though for a cocky as fuck vampire, he's sometimes more insecure than a schoolboy on his first chaperoned date, but even though she knows he probably read what she meant, she spells it out, both for him, and for herself.

"I thought the bottles would give the father, uncle and aunt of my baby time to bond with her. Not to mention I would have instagrammed the shit out of it... A vampire or a hybrid giving a pinkish baby a bottle? That would have been so cute... And you would have had to kill lots and lots of people to gain back your feral credibility, but yeah. Half boob, half bottle. Bonding time for everyone. And I suppose some extra sleep for me."

She looks away, sadness overcoming her at the thought of that other thing they never had, and she curses Esther and Mikael.

"I fear you would have caused a massacre in the family," he says lightly, but she can tell he's touched, "three vampires fighting to death every time a little pink and rosy baby would have let out a cry, or a moan, or just a baby noise, all three wanting to be the one feeding her her bottle, even if it meant walking over one of his or her sibling's corpse..."

She can't help but chuckle.

"I would have made a schedule, with turns. Do you think I'm stupid Elijah? I know you guys would have gone all gladiator every time it was bottle time. It was always my intention to have a schedule you guys would have to abide to."

He comes around and puts his arms around her waist, leaning in to kiss her shoulder. How she longs for his lips on hers...

"You're one of the smartest women I've ever met, I should have known you would have anticipated Klaus', Rebekah's and my childish behaviors."

"I would have made you change the diapers too, just so you know. It wouldn't have been just the happy feeding time, you would have had to deal with that other things babies are great at, filling diapers."

"You would have needed another schedule in place, not to force us to do that, but to avoid bloodshed once again."

She laughs at the thought of the three Originals fighting to know who would clean Hope's bottom after every poop.

Laughing still feels weird, like she shouldn't be doing that, and she stops almost immediately. She doesn't start crying, like she did the first time he made her laugh after their reunion, and she had broken down saying she didn't want her baby to believe she was forgotten.

"You can laugh," Elijah says against her neck. "Laughter is not a crime. Laughter is celebration. We deserve a little laughter. We will have more when we get your daughter back."

"I wonder what last name Rebekah gave her," she says, her hands on his arms, sort of holding him to her, even though she doesn't need to. "I don't want my baby to be Hope Mikaelson. Yet I noticed that Rebekah is not Rebekah Mikaeldotter... Shouldn't she have been? That's not the point," Hayley says, shaking her head. "I just wish I knew ... that among other things."

She's missing so many things in her baby's life... Fuck Esther, Fuck Mikael, Fuck them back to hell.

"I have it under good authority that for now, Rebekah is living as Rebekah Marshall, with her niece, bearing the same last name."

She wants to weep again, and she holds on tighter to him.

"Rebekah used to be Rebekah Mikaeldotter indeed, but as centuries went by, people just didn't understand why we didn't have the same last name," Elijah says, calmly, and she breathes him in, letting his peace wash over her. "When we get Hope back, you and Klaus can decide if she should be Hope Mikaelson, Niklausson or Niklausdotter."

"I never discussed it with Klaus, but I can tell you this, as I know he will agree: her middle name will be Elijahdotter. She will hate us for it when she hits puberty though, fair warning..."

He doesn't say anything at first, just burying his nose in her hair, and she wonders if she has crossed a line.

"Thank you..." He finally whispers

They don't question whether or not they will get Hope back. She used to wonder, but since he came back in her life, she knows it for a fact. They had a discussion with Klaus who is doing his thing somewhere else and they all agreed that Esther and Mikael were going to die. Again. She doesn't know how many times they died already, but this time it will be final, and her baby will be back in her arms.

Speaking of Klaus, she has a sneaking suspicion he's in Mystic Falls with a sassy blonde vampire. Camille was a fix, though he genuinely cared for her, from what Hayley can tell, but she couldn't compete.

Elijah kisses her neck lightly, and she moans. Nothing beat the real thing. She grabs his neck, and goes for a kiss, as he obliges happily.

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